After many years and many rounds of revisions, my book has finally been published.
I can’t wait until this crazy end-of-term pace comes to an end and I actually have time to look at it!
Stay tuned for book launch news. (Did someone say party?! 
)
Category Archives: Books
Scrambled Tofu
I just made my first-ever batch of scrambled tofu and I’m so happy with how it turned out. I have a confession to make: I’ve had scrambled tofu at restaurants before and have not really enjoyed it. I mean, it was okay, but I didn’t LOVE it. I couldn’t see what the big deal was.
Enter the wonderful Isa Chandra Moskowitz and her Vegan Brunch book. On page 19 in black and white I read in Isa’s own words: “I’ve had one too many disappointing scrambles in my day. Infractions ranged from flavorless heaps of greasy mush to way overspiced, grainy disasters. As simple a concept as it is, some people just don’t get scrambled tofu.”
This was like an epiphany! I mean, if the goddess of vegan cooking and baking could admit that she didn’t like all the tofu scrambles that have crossed her plate, then it meant there was hope for me too!
I continued reading, and found her basic “go-to” recipe for scrambled tofu. Isa’s recipes have never let me down yet, so I decided to give it a try! I’m so glad I did! This one will be a keeper. (and I think I’ll mix the leftovers with some diced up tomato and put it in a wrap for tomorrow’s lunch)
Spice Blend
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed with your fingers (from the garden! yay!)
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons water
Tofu
3 garlic cloves, minced (I actually only used 1 and a half, wasn’t really feeling very “garlicky” this morning)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound extra-firm tofu, drained
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
fresh black pepper to taste
Blend spices together in a small cup. Add water and mix. Set aside.
Preheat a large, heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat. Saute the garlic in olive oil for about a minute. Break apart the tofu into bite-sized pieces and saute for about 10 minutes, stirring often. Get under the tofu when you are stirring, scrape the bottom and don’t let it stick to the pan; that is where the good, crispy stuff is. (use a thin metal spatula; a wooden or plastic one won’t really cut it) The tofu should brown on at least one side, but you don’t need to be too precise about it. The water should cook out of it and not collect too much at the bottom of the pan. If that is happening, turn up the heat and let the water evaporate. Conversely, if the scramble seems dry add splashes of water until it is nice and moist.
Add spice blend and mix to incorporate. Add the nutritional yeast and pepper. Cook for about 5 more minutes. Serve warm. (note: this dish is really yummy with a side of garden tomatoes!)
(And speaking of Isa Chandra Moskowitz, check out her newly designed Post Punk Kitchen site! Totally fantastic!)
The Professor is In(nocent)?
A colleague recently introduced me to the world of academic mysteries. I’d encountered some of these books from time to time before but had not really stopped to consider that there might be a whole sub-genre of sleuthing profs out there. I began with Joanne Dobson’s Karen Pelletier mysteries, but apparently there are many, many more out there just waiting to be devoured.
So Much Going On!
The last little while has felt like a whirlwind compared to the hermit-like state I’ve been in for most of my sabbatical thus far. Some highlights:
1)Last Friday I attended the Medieval Documents Symposium at Brock. This event was to celebrate the recent discoveries of some medieval documents in our Special Collections as well as some donations of documents to the university. My own area of research is the late 19th C/early 20th C, so it was a real treat to learn about an era so far removed from the one I spend all my time studying. This was a truly fascinating event. First of all, I’m always a little in awe when in the presence of material objects that have survived this long. It kinds of blows my mind! Secondly, the presentations made last Friday really embodied a spirit of interdisciplinary inquiry that I find especially engaging. For example, we heard from some of the folks involved in the DEEDS project at U of T. As I understand it, this is a piece of software that can calculate the approximate age of an undated Medieval charter based on the patterns of language that appear in that document. Very, very cool!
2)The 2010 Niagara Social Justice Forum took place last Saturday. I look forward to this event each year as it brings together faculty, students, staff, community members, activists, etc. for discussions, workshops and a chance to exchange ideas. The food that Strega provided was knock-your-socks-off delicious and it was pretty fantastic to have all that vegan/vegetarian food on campus. I just wish we had these kinds of eats at Brock all the time. Le sigh…
3)This week we had Erika Ritter come to campus to talk about her book, The Dog by the Cradle, The Serpent Beneath: Some Paradoxes of Human-Animal Relationships. This is an amazing book that really delves into the many complexities of human relationships with nonhuman animals, both in our current era and in the past. The event on Tuesday included a lecture but also a discussion where most people in the room had an opportunity to ask questions or offer comments about the multitude of paradoxes that seem to define human-nonhuman relationships. It was a wonderful event, and I left campus that day feeling very energized and couldn’t wait to get back to work on my new research, a topic which is very much related to the themes explored in this book.
4)Tomorrow evening brings another animal-themed event, this time a book launch and fund-raiser. The book being launched is John Sorenson’s book, Ape (from the Reaktion series, Animal), and the funds are being raised for the Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary.
All this *AND* talk of a cross-lake ferry service between Toronto and St. Catharines makes it a pretty exciting week to be living in Niagara!
Seasonal Allergies
We have had lovely spring weather in Niagara so far and I’ve been out in the yard as much as possible. This weekend Colleen helped me build some tripod trellises for the runner beans and we got those planted. The garden is slowly starting to take shape, however I’m learning just how much there is to do to keep up a yard and a garden of this size. Don’t get me wrong — I love it but have had to recognize that it is always a work in progress. Perhaps that is half the fun?
My spring allergies have come back with a vengeance. I’ve been sneezing and sniffling my way through the past week or so. I’ve not yet been able to pinpoint exactly what it is I’m allergic to — probably a combination of plant materials. Very frustrating! (By the way, anyone have any recommendations for products or homeopathic remedies for this type of allergy? I’m always on the lookout for new ways to try and combat this.)
The impulse to read up on a topic is not limited to my academic work, and since I want to know more about allergies I recently picked up Gregg Mitman’s book, Breathing Space: How Allergies Shape Our Lives and Landscapes. On Saturday, during a break from gardening, I sat out on the back porch and began reading it. This struck me as a highly appropriate choice of reading material given that I’d just recovered from an allergy-induced sneezing fit. Mitman opens his book with an interesting analysis of the story of Mr. T. cutting down all the trees on his Chicago-area property. Mr. T and environmental/medical history? I’m hooked!
The Airport Book Game
When I fly I often play a little game. I don’t pack a book in my carry-on bag but, instead, wait to see what I can find for reading material at the airport shops. I know, I know — for a book-a-holic this sounds like a risky approach to travel. The fun part, however, is that by doing this I’ve often come across books I wouldn’t think to look for in larger, more diverse bookstores. And for all the flying I’ve done in the past few years there was only one time where I just couldn’t bring myself to buy any of the books for sale in the airport.
On my recent trip to Boston I played this game and bought a book at the Buffalo airport. I bought Lisa Genova’s debut novel, Still Alice. I’m not sure if it was the striking cover design or the fact that the book was set in the location I was about to visit, but something made this book jump out at me from all of the others that day. I hadn’t heard of this book before and, like all books bought while playing the airport book game, I had no idea if it would be a waste of money and time or not. As it turned out, I really liked this book. I finished it a few days ago and am still thinking about it (always a sign of a good book!). I don’t want to give away too much, but the novel is about a Harvard professor who is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. While, of course, this subject matter means that the book does have some heart-breaking scenes, the story is not as bleak or depressing as it might first sound. In fact, I found myself looking forward to getting back to the book each evening as I wanted to know more about the characters and how they were learning to live with this major change in their lives. Quite a compelling read!
Learning to Read
The other night we went to hear Roch Carrier speak. I have been a fan of “The Hockey Sweater” since I was a kid, but this was the first time I had heard him give a presentation. It was a great evening — Mr. Carrier is such an interesting and engaging person, and I really enjoyed listening to him talk about his career as a writer. He also read some of his short stories to us, including one about how he learned to read. I was particularly touched by this story, given how the words he has written have undoubtedly inspired many other young Canadians to fall in love with reading. I know I certainly remember how I enjoyed reading excerpts of his stories in our grade school readers.
I have some recollection of when I first learned to read. My mom tells me that I taught myself, but I’m sure that isn’t entirely true given how frequently we were read to. I do remember wanting so desperately to be able to read like the grown-ups around me, and I’d often sit with a book open in my lap, staring at the pages in the hopes that something magical would happen and I’d start to comprehend what I was seeing in front of me. My aunt Irene bought me a book at a garage sale to practice with. I don’t recall what book it was, but I do remember it was a green hard-backed book and I remember sitting with her, circling in pencil the words I knew how to sound out. After that the details get a bit blurry, but I know that once I figured it out I wanted to read any books I could get my hands on. Ramona Quimby, Laura Ingalls and Nancy Drew soon became close, personal friends. Trips to the public library were much anticipated, and to this day the crinkly sound of a laminated library book cover makes me smile.
Of course I continue to read a lot now, but the majority of the reading I do for work is non-fiction. I love the subjects I teach and research, so I do very much enjoy reading books on the history of art, visual culture, botanical illustration, etc., however Mr. Carrier’s talk made me realize how much I miss the pleasure of being carried away by a good story. This summer I’m going to be sure to add some fiction to my reading list!
William Brymner, The Picture Book [1898]
Image Source: National Gallery of Canada/CyberMuse
Taking Nature Writing to a New Level?
Apparently, the author of some old fashioned bodice-ripping romance novels recently decided to plagiarize a piece on black-footed ferrets. I suppose she figured she’d never be found out. All I can say is why? I mean, seriously, this is the most absurd thing I’ve heard in ages! I haven’t read the novel in question, but I can’t see how Tolme’s writing on the little critters would seem at all suited to a steamy romance novel. I’m sure Tolme’s writing and research is very good, but it is just, well, a different kind of writing altogether, isn’t it? What’s the thought process here? And then there is the question of the editor of the novel — even if he or she didn’t know Tolme’s piece existed, the abrupt shift in writing style should have triggered some sort of warning signal. Seems that this story is continuing to develop — more over at Smart Bitches.
For the Love of Books!
Once again I must credit bioephemera for alerting me to something fantastic! Over at Curious Expeditions you will find the most amazing post (including a series of stunningly beautiful photos) in honour of libraries. A good library is a wonderful, wonderful place!
(Image Credits: Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge, England and Old British Reading Room, British Museum, London, England. Taken from Curious Expeditions)
Summer Book Purchases
As I continue to organize my office to get ready for the 2007/08 academic year, I have been unpacking the various bags and boxes of books I purchased this summer. The majority of them were purchased in the UK, where I got a little carried away in museum and garden bookshops! We had our suitcases stuffed to the brim with all of my heavy books on the way home. This would have been fine except we had to take the tube to Victoria station in order to transfer to the Gatwick Express. We discovered a little too late that there are no lifts in Victoria station, so we had to drag our heavy luggage up the stairs — I’m sure we looked quite comical! Thankfully some nice folks stopped to help us out.
Below is a list of the books I bought over the past couple of months. I can’t wait until I have a chance to read them all!
A Vision of Eden: The Life and Work of Mariane North (London: The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 1993)
Carol Armstrong, Scenes in a Library: Reading the Photograph in the Book, 1843-1875 (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press)
David Attenborough, Susan Owens, Martin Clayton and Rea Alexandratos, Amazing Rare Things: The Art of Natural History in the Age of Discovery (London: Royal Collection Publications, 2007)
Holley Bishop, Robbing the Bees: A Biography of Honey, The Sweet Liquid Gold that Seduced the World (New York: Free Press, 2005)
R. Howard Bloch, A Needle in the Right Hand of God: The Norman Conquest of 1066 and the Making and Meaning of the Bayeux Tapestry (New York: Random House, 2006)
John Buchanan-Brown, Early Victorian Illustrated Books: Britain, France and Germany, 1820-1860 (London: The British Library and Oak Knoll Press, 2005)
Stefan Buczacki, Garden Natural History (London: Collins, 2007)
Susan Cambpell, A History of Kitchen Gardening (London: Frances Lincoln, 2005)
Ray Desmond, Great Natural History Books and Their Creators (London: The British Library and Oak Knoll Press, 2003)
Carolyn Fry, The World of Kew (London: BBC Books, 2006)
Lisa Graziose Corrin, Miwon Kwon, Norman Bryson and Mark Dion, Mark Dion (London: Phaidon Press, 1997)
Victoria Finlay, Buried Treasure: Travels Through the Jewel Box (McArthur & Co, 2006)
David Gessner, Sick of Nature (Hanover, NH: Dartmouth College Press, 2004)
Amy Butler Greenfield, A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage and the Quest for the Color of Desire (HarperCollins, 2006)
Ruth Hayden, Mrs. Delany: Her Life and Her Flowers (London: The British Museum Press, 1980)
Kenneth I. Helphand, Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens in Wartime (San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 2006)
Images from Nature (London: The Natural History Museum, 1998)
Anne Jennings, Victorian Gardens (London: English Heritage and The Museum of Garden History, 2005)
Anne Jennings, Edwardian Gardens (London: English Heritage and The Museum of Garden History, 2005)
Sylvia Landsberg, The Medieval Garden (London: The British Museum Press, 1995)
Leslie Laking, Love, Sweat and Soil: A History of the Royal Botanical Gardens from 1930 to 1981 (Hamilton: Royal Botanical Gardens’ Auxiliary, 2005)
Linda Lear, Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007)
Bill McKibben, The End of Nature (New York: Random House, 1989)
Bill McKibben, Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 2007)
Elizabeth K. Menon, Evil By Design: The Creation and Marketing of the Femme Fatale (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2006)
Sue Minter, The Apothecaries’ Garden: A History of the Chelsea Physic Garden (Phoenix Mill: Sutton Publishing Ltd., 2000)
Peter Pesic, Sky in a Bottle (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2005)
Laura Ponsonby, Marianne North at Kew Gardens (London: The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 1996)
Leonard Shlain, Art & Physics: Parallel Visions in Space, Time, and Light (New York: Harper Perennial, 1991)
Ann Shteir, Cultivating Women, Cultivating Science: Flora’s Daughters and Botany in England, 1760-1860 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996)
Kim Sloan, A New World: England’s First View of America (London: The British Museum Press, 2007)
Rupert Smith, A Year at Kew (London: BBC Books, 2004)
Mary Soderstrom, Recreating Eden: A Natural History of Botanical Gardens (Montréal: Véhicule Press, 2001)
Amy Stewart, Flower Confidential (Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2007)
Kim Todd, Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis (Orlando: Harcourt, 2007)
Jenny Uglow, A Little History of British Gardening (London: Pimlico, 2005)
Lucia van der Post, William Morris and Morris & Co. (London: V&A Publications, 2003)
Roy Vickery, Wildlife Garden at the Natural History Museum (London: The Natural History Museum, 2004)
Twigs Way, Virgins, Weeders and Queens: A History of Women in the Garden (Phoenix Mill: Sutton Publishing, 2006)
Anne Wilkinson, The Victorian Gardener: The Growth of Gardening and the Floral World (Phoenix Mill: Sutton Publishing, 2006)
Val Williams and Susan Bright, How We Are: Photographing Britain from the 1840s to the Present (London: Tate Publishing, 2007)
Simon Winchester, The Map that Changed the World (New York: Perennial, 2002)
